The Asauchi
by vinnie-1991
Summary: Nero Kusanagi, a young Shinigami unable to aquire a name for his blade sets off on a journey to find the man who, it is said, can name swords, along the way he will discover true friendship and enemies of which nightmares are made. more description insid
1. Chapter 1

* A mythical Japanese sword said to have been found in the stomach of a giant snake

*Wooden sword used for training

The Asauchi

An Asauchi. A Zanpukto that does not have a name, wielded by those Shinigami which never managed to join one of the thirteen squads. This the story of one such Asauchi, and its wielder, a young Shinigami named Nero. He died aged seventeen and lived in soul society for seventy years before deciding to join the Sereitei, but for some reason his sword did not acquire a name, and so he was not accepted into the squads. This is the story of his search for the one who, legend says, can give names to swords, a man who lives on the very edges of the soul universe, a place were no Shinigami has ever tread. Were it is said that beings far more powerful and more ferocious than any hollow dwell. It is a journey that will test his resolve to it's very limits, will either make him stronger or destroy him. This is the the story of Nero Kusanagi*.

Nero ducked below the bokken*, bringing his own up in a diagonal arc aimed at the left side of his opponents head, but was deflected as Aiden moved the hand guard of his wooden sword the small distance needed to intercept. Instead of pulling his sword away from the block Nero pushed forward, using his strength to push Aiden backwards. Spinning to the left Aiden broke away from the lock, he kept spinning until he was behind Nero, and whipped his bokken at his head, but Nero anticipated the blow and bent over, ducking the blow as he lifted his rite leg and kicked Aiden in the stomach, forcing him back two steps. As he straightened up Nero spun, so that he was facing his opponent and leapt forward before he had time to recover his balance after the kick, and cut at Aiden's left knee. Aiden tried to block but the attack was too strong, and he had not recovered his balance enough to put any real effort into the block, the attack connected and he was sent crashing to his knees. Not giving his opponent time to recover, Nero whipped his bokken forward at Aiden's own weapon, knocking it out of his momentarily weakened grasp with the force of the blow. The bokken bounced twice on the Dojo mat as it skittered away, into the crowd of onlooking classmates. Aiden made a move to jump for it, but received a kick in the chest that sent him sprawling before he could move as much as an inch. Nero stepped forward over his prone opponent, and put the blunt tip of his weapon at his throat "Surrender." Aiden looked about him for an escape route, but saw none through which he could escape without receiving a winning blow from his opponent. No matter what happened here he would lose. He decided to take the option that would hurt least "I surrender." Nero grinned at his friend before he stepped away from him and offered his hand.

Nero helped Aiden to his feet, childish grin plastered on his face "I always win" he said simply, but not maliciously. Aiden looked at him with fire in his eyes "I will win one day! Anyway I would win with real Zanpukto, since mine has a name!" indignant at losing as he was Nero let that snipe slide. It was true though, his British best friend would most likely win, should the two ever cross swords in a real battle. Because, no matter how hard Nero tried, he just could not discover his swords name. It was the blade of a trainee, an Asauchi, a blade that does not have a name. But Nero was not a trainee, he was skilled enough to enter the ranks of the Shinigami as, according to his Sensei, a third seat at least, if only he could name his Zanpukto. Nero looked at his best friend, really taking him in for the first time since he had become a Shinigami. He had his black robes on, as was the law, and was in the process of strapping his Zanpukto, Miasashi, to his hip. His hair was black and hung straight at his shoulders. His eyes were dark, almost black, and he had light stubble on his chin which, not matter how much he shaved, he could not get rid of. "We are what we were when we died" he had once explained to Nero when he had asked about it "And when I died I had stubble." Nero stood at about 5'6, and had white hair which hung to his hips, and was tied back in a pony tail. He had pink eyes and pale skin. Nero was an albino.

After collecting his own weapon Nero and Aiden walked out of the Dojo without another word to each other. The soul society sun shone on the pairs exposed necks as they made their way towards the Sereitei gate together, quietly contemplating how to begin the next awkward conversation, each hoping equally that Aiden being a Shinigami would be conveniently forgotten. To say it had caused bad blood between the two would be an understatement. "So...what will you do now?" Aiden hazarded at Nero, hoping he would not misconstrue it as a question about his plans for the future and rather take it for what it was, a question about how he would spend his day. "I don't know. I'm meeting Sakura in the library later but I don't know what we're doing after that. You?" Nero breathed a sigh of relief. "I have the entire day off today. I should be using it for training, but I'd rather the two of us hung out, you mind if I come to the library with you?" Nero grunted his permission.

The Soul Society Library is a giant, building, it has one main, square shaped room stretching for a mile in every direction, and instead of a roof there is a brilliant glass dome that causes the light to scatter as it enters the room, giving the effect of a disco ball in some areas. Book shelves are lined up in neat rows of one hundred left too rite, then each stack in the front row is proceeded by one thousand going backwards. The library is far too large too move around on foot, it would take days to find the general area of the book you are looking for, and then possibly the same time again to actually find the thing, and so the floor is a web of tracks, thousands and thousands of miniature train tracks, upon which glide small two seater chairs, simply called convoy chairs. As you sit down there is a keyboard in front of you, and on this you type the book you wish too find, or area of the library you wish t go. The problem with books in soul society is that, though it is easy to conjure books from the living world to the spirit one, disposing of them is somewhat more difficult, seeing as everything destroyed in soul society becomes spirit particles if you was to continually destroy conjured books it would have a serious, but as yet unknown, affect on the place. So this room was created, and it grows one book larger every time an author has his or her works published.

Nero had always been fascinated by the library. Even in life he had had a passion for literature, and this place with near enough every book ever written in it was better than sex to him. On more than one occasion, before he began to feel hunger that is, he had been known to spend days, even weeks here at a time, sleeping little and talking even less, He had drunk in thousands of books, short stories, comics, and even the bible. It had become a mission to him that he would read at least one million books before...well not before he died, seeing as he was dead already. He had yet to decide what the time limit would be. The two entered the Library through the main doorway and instantly jumped into the last empty convoy chair. "Were are they gonna be waiting?" asked Aiden "They said they'd be in the relaxation centre." The relaxation centre was a place for readers to sit and read, it was simply a clearing in the shelves that had four twenty seater sofa's and a few bean bags littered about the place. And as the two arrived, the hum of their chair announcing their arrival to the small group gathered, they spotted the girls sitting on a collection of bunched together bean bags. The two waved as they noticed the boys, and they waved back. Sakura was Nero's girlfriend, she had long blue hair, which was equally as long as Nero's, she wore Shinigami robes like Nero and Aiden, as did the girl she was with, Tatsuo Nakamura, Nero's "sister". She hadn't been his sister in the real world, in fact they'd never even met. But when someone comes to soul society it is rare for them to find their real families again, so they form family units of their own. And Tatsuo was his. She looked a lot like Sakura, except she had red hair. Nero had a belief that if it wasn't for their strange hair colours they would have nothing in common at all. Both had been obsessed with Nero's white hair when he had arrived in Soul Society.

As he approached Nero noticed that the girls were both leaning over the same book, muttering quickly, glances darting at the two approaching boys every few seconds. When he was close enough to talk without having to shout Nero asked "What's going on? Why are you whispering?" the two looked at each other, Sakura nodded and lent back on her bean bag, a sad look on her face, as if she had conceded defeat to an unworthy opponent. "Well?" he prodded "Yea you're kinda worrying me" added Aiden. Tatsuo looked at Sakura one more time, again seeking confirmation, and when she received none spoke anyway. "It's this book" she handed it to Nero as she said it. It was a big dusty old tome, with crinkled and eroded pages. The spine seemed to have some green mould covering the name of the book. Nero tried not too touch that bit. He looked at his sister, puzzled. "Read that page idiot" Nero looked down and was instantly hooked.

The Name Giving Hermit

In the farthest Eastern corner of the Soul Universe there lives a man.

His name is unknown even to me. But he is there, I have seen him in

my dreams. He is a man born with an extraordinary ability.

He can give nameless swords names!These blades are

commonly known as Asauchi, and are used by trainee Shinigami.

But it is not uncommon for those who train with these blades to be

unable to name them. It is not through weakness that this

happens, but a phenomenon known as "Nameless bonding."

This is were the user becomes too powerful in the use of the Asauchi

and due to it's bond with it's powerful master, the blade never feels

the need to develop an identity of it's own. This man,

whom I simply call Hermit, can break this bond,

and force the blade to form an identity. Enclosed is a map to his home.

It is not exact, for I have never travelled there, but I have never dreamed

something that turned out untrue. However I implore the reader, do not

travel there unless out of absolute necessity. It is a dangerous realm,

through which no Shinigami has travelled. It is fraught with master hollows.

Hollows as yet unknown to the wider population of Shinigami,

but I assure you they exist, and their power is exponential. And beyond them..

are the things of which Nightmares are made, worse than hollow. Worse than

Espada. Again, go ONLY if all else is lost, and his power is needed.

"What the hell's an Espada?" Nero heard Aiden ask the girls "No idea" he heard them reply. He read the passage again. And again, and again, until he had it memorized. All the time he was reading not one person tried to speak to him, but the group seemed to sense when he was done despite still not taking his eyes off the page. It was Sakura who spoke first "I think it's fake, probably just some human who has experience with Shinigami and thought it would be a good way to earn some money" Nero shook his head "No. it's real. I know it" "How do you know?" it was Tatsuo now "For one look at the state of the book. It's a mess! Look around you, the books from the human world don't age, but the ones written here do. And if it was a Shinigami what would he get out of this? Except punishment if he was discovered before the book was read. Probably death if it was read and the reader went looking and this turned out to be a hoax." Nero looked at the gathered group, he turned the page and, sure enough, there was the map to the man's house.

The scale of the map was huge, Soul Society measured at roughly one thousand miles in distance, and on this map registered as only a small dot. Laying the map down, Nero grabbed a piece of paper and pencil from the table beside him, and drew a small line the same length as the representation of Soul Society, then he moved it along, and counted the amount of times he could fit it into the gap between Soul Society, and the dot marked HERMIT. It fit into it seventeen times. "So if this map is to scale, then this hermit is about....seventeen thousand miles away. I should be able to run five hundred miles a day easily, so that means it should take at least thirty four days, providing I don't run into any trouble. Easy" he had been talking to himself, in a daze, and had missed the astonished gasps of his small group of friends.

Now he looked up to find a look of horror on both girls face, and Aiden shaking his head, an almost disappointed look on his "What?" he asked no one in particular. "You can not seriously plan on going there!" exclaimed Sakura Nero thought about the question for a moment, confused by it. "Well....of course I'm going. I thought that was why you showed me"

"No! Of course not you idiot! We just thought you'd be interested in it"

"Well....you were right, I am interested, very interested. In fact I'm gonna leave tomorrow"

"No! You can't go Nero! If you do.....I'll tell captain Kenpatchi" it was Aiden talking now, by his tone it was obvious that he found his threat childish, but the determination in his eyes showed he was serious. "No you wouldn't Aiden, because your my friend, and you know that becoming a Shinigami is everything to me. I refuse to give up on my dream! I would die for it. And if you go to Kenpatchi then...well I guess you were never the friend I believed you to be" that did it, a look of defeat came over his friends face so fast that Nero began to wonder when it was that the guilt of becoming a Shinigami before Nero had broken his best friend's spirit. "I have to tell him Nero. But....I will wait two days, if you can run at the pace you say that will give you a one thousand mile head start. If your lucky Byakuya won't chase you. With his flash step he would catch up to you in hours, instead of days" Nero nodded at Aiden, then turned to look at his girlfriend and sister "Will you tell your captain?" both girls were in squad four. Sakura held up her hands, as if doing so would make the rapidly escalating situation slow down "Hang on, how did this happen so fast? You've been here what ten minutes? And already you're talking about leaving to go on a suicide mission? Were where the preliminaries? The self debate about weather it would be a good idea?!" Nero took his girlfriends hand in his and looked into her beautiful blue eyes "There was no self debate because I have no self doubt. I know that this is the right thing for me to do. It's instinctive. like how you Shinigami know the names of your swords" the last part of his sentence was said with a bitterness that made Sakura snatch her hand back. "I'm sorry Sakura, I don't blame you for this, but you have to allow me to do this without interfering. I would rather die on this mission than not become a Shinigami. The shame of such a failure would be....too much" and with that he climbed to his feet and moved towards the convoy chair. "I'll leave tonight instead, that will give me a bit more than a thousand mile head start on the Shinigami, as long as you keep to your promise Aiden. "Of course I will" Aiden answered, slightly indignant at the implication in the sentence. "That's good then. With any luck I should see all of you in about..two and a half months, three tops. Please don't follow me or try to talk me out of this. And with that he climbed into the chair, and entered the code to leave the library.


	2. Chapter 2

*probably not what it's actually called

Chapter 2:

Nero rushed home, not stopping even when the stitch in his side moved from a throb to a hammering in his rib cage, nor when Captain Hitsugaya stepped in his way and was nearly ploughed down beneath Nero's rushing feet. A brief sorry over his shoulder was the measure of apology he showed the angered captain. Nero's training barracks was on the very outskirts of Sereitei, and he managed the one hour walk in little over fifteen minutes, a record time if he was not mistaken. Nero almost knocked the door down in his haste to open it, smacking a young trainee in the face as it smashed inwards. The trainee looked to be only about eleven, and when she burst out crying Nero felt the need to stay with her for a few minutes before moving on, delaying his departure a few precious minutes longer. After the girl quit her incessant crying Nero continued on to his room. Nero's sanctuary from the outside world was a small box room, seven foot wide by ten long, the bed was a simple, single mattress on the floor with white quilt, and blue roll up pillow. Beside this was a small wardrobe, in which he kept his bag, lifted from the squad four barracks by Sakura and given to him as a gift. A small white satchel with a piece of string at the top and one at the bottom, this you tied to a piece of long red plastic with four large holes in it, which sat on your chest the closer you got to the middle the tighter the satchel would be, and vice-versa.

In his bag Nero placed a medicine kit given to him by Tatsuo, a box of nutrition pills, one of which would keep even a large man's hunger happily satisfied for an entire week, a bottle of water, likewise given to him by Tatsuo, of which a single sip would keep a person hydrated for hours at a time, no matter what weather that person found themselves in. Once his bag was packed with the bare essentials and strapped to his back Nero jumped to his feet and dashed for the door. And came face to face with Captain Hitsugaya. "You seem to be in quite a rush today" it was a statement, but said in a way that made Nero feel as though it was a question, and to not answer it would be a grave mistake. "What's in the bag?" Nero struggled to keep his hand from dashing to his sword, knowing that this young captain would decimate him before he even had it drawn. So instead he took a deep breath, and began a short series of half truths "It's just a few bits to sustain me for a couple of days in the desert outside of Soul Society. I'm going to go and do some intensive training. That is allowed isn't it?" Hitsugaya looked into the trainee's eyes, and for a moment Nero had the ridiculous notion that his very soul was being examined. "There is no rule against it. But we prefer it that trainee's don't make the attempt. Outside the walls of Soul Society Hollows roam unchecked. It could be dangerous for....weaker people" though there was no malice in what Hitsugaya had said Nero could not help feeling anger pinch at the back of his neck "I am more than capable of handling the hollows that roam in this region" after a moments thought Nero added "Captain" The Captain looked Nero up and down, seeming to see the Trainee's heart, appraising it, seeking out weakness. Without another word Hitsugaya Toshiro turned and made his way out of the barracks, not looking back once.

The very edge of Soul Society is the slum area, the poorest of all the regions due to it's distance from the Sereitei, children lay in the streets, mercifully not hungry, but suffering none the less, the heat attracting flies to their young eyes, the constant attack had blinded more than a few of the poor children. Adults likewise suffered, but they took their frustrations out on the children, hitting out at them whenever one strayed too close. It was through this small portion of hell that Nero made his way, black goggles on to protect from the flies. He tried not to look at the children as he passed them, as they threw themselves at his feet, begging for salvation. It was a horrible feeling, the likes of which Nero was not used to. Being called upon for aid, especially when he did not know those calling for it, but more so he was not used to being _unable _to help. So on he walked saying a silent prayer to a god he now knew does not exist, and was relieved when he finally came to the outer wall of Soul Society. Here is a gate set in a wall that seems to stretch upwards into infinity, at that time of day it grasped the slums in a shadowy grip. The gate reaches upwards to roughly one hundred feet, and on the ground in front of it a small table and chairs, behind which there is usually two Shinigami. On this day there were two. Both looked to be in their twenties, but this was no indication of their true age, as in Soul Society a person who looks twenty could be thousands of years old. As he approached they both stood "Are you here to relieve one of us?" one of the Shinigami asked hopefully.

"No I'm going out there to train"

"I'm sorry but you can't do that, not without the permission of a Captain" this from the second

"But I spoke to Captain Hitsugaya, he said it would be fine!"

the first one piped up again "That's all well and good but where's the proof?"

"send a hell butterfly and ask him if you don't believe me!"

"We will do that, but not to Hitsugaya if you don't mind, we'll ask Captain Kenpatchi"

Panic shot through Nero. If Kenpatchi found out that he was leaving today then in two days when Aiden went to him to inform him that Nero had just left, Kenpatchi would know he was lying. The Captain would see him as a traitor. And everyone in the Soul Society knew that Kenpatchi did not go easy on traitors. These were the thoughts going through Nero's mind as one of the two men picked up a small cage, in which a Hell butterfly fluttered contentedly. "Stop!" he yelled as he jumped over the table. Kicking the cage away from the first one's reaching hand. Nero placed his hand on the table to stop the momentum of his jump carrying him further, and struck out with his left foot. It sunk into the first Shinigami's stomach as if it was made of jelly, and sent him flying into the wall three feet behind him. Nero didn't stop to see if he was incapacitated, still keeping his hands planted on the table, keeping his body elevated with them, he spun in a half circle so that the bottom half of his body was facing the second Shinigami, who was now raising from his seat. Again Nero kicked out, this time with his rite foot, and at Number Two's face, knocking him backwards slightly, the Shinigami's feet caught up in his chair legs and he crashed to the ground. Nero pushed upwards and forwards with his hands, so that when he landed he was standing on the Shinigami's side of the desk. Number two was beginning to rise from the ground, but a kick in the face from Nero sent him straight back down, this time out cold. Nero turned just in time to duck out of the way of a punch thrown by Number One. Luckily for Nero it seemed that this guy was as reluctant as him to draw his sword, so as the man sent another punch Nero decide to end it quick before he could change his mind.

The punch flew at Nero's face, and instead of dodging completely he stepped forward and, with his rite forearm swept the fist off in that direction and grabbed the Number One's arm with his rite hand, then grabbed his armpit with his left, at the same time throwing the left hip into Number One's groin. The power went out of the man as the hip connected and Nero switched position so that his back was now pressed against the man's stomach, still not having let go of his arm, Nero bent forward and pulled the Shinigami down with him, flipping him over his shoulder in a perfectly executed Judo shoulder flip*. Number One crashed down onto the table, dazed but not unconscious. Nero raised his arm up and brought his elbow down into the man's face, knocking him out cold. Nero stripped both men to their underwear, and used the clothes as a rope to bind the pair before he moved onwards towards the gate, forcing himself to leave behind the guilt he felt for humiliating these two men, who were just doing their job.

The gate to Soul Society is activated by a Shinigami placing his hand against it, the gate reacts to that Shinigami's Spiritual pressure and opens. Nero thanked God, Allah, and Buddha when the gate opened beneath his outstretched hand to reveal the rolling desert of what the Shinigami called "The Badlands". Up to now he had been unsure as to weather it would open for a trainee. The thought of dragging one of the unconscious Shinigami's over and using his hand had not been an idea of great appeal to Nero.

The Badlands stretched out before Nero, sand dunes reaching higher than some large buildings, creatures, sensing the approaching spiritual pressure, rushed for hiding places, in their haste running into the lair of awaiting predators. Funny, Nero thought, that simply by opening a door he had ended lives. It made him think about the frailty of life, how a seemingly small decision can have disastrous consequences. For the first time Nero had doubts about his decision to leave. Doubts that were quashed when he looked down at his Nameless Zanpukto, and felt the emptiness radiating from it, and the emptiness replicated inside of himself. This was not a question of whether he would do it or not, it was a question of whether he was doing it for the right reasons. Doing it to become a Shinigami, to fulfil his dream, and not simply out of some strange idea of pride. The answer was one that he would have to discover for himself, Nero decided, as he stepped out over the threshold of the gate. Taking his first official steps out of Soul Society and into the badlands, his first step into a destiny that was now out of his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: And On The Third Day.....

The First and second days passed without event. Nero ran as if pursued by demons, and made excellent time, stopping only to take a few sparing swigs from his water bottle, and eat a single pill, which had left him feeling contentedly full. It was not until late on the Second day, having already travelled that days required five hundred miles, that he began to notice subtle changes in the landscape, such as the absence of sand dunes, the solidity of the ground beneath his running feet, the tremendous drop in temperature and lastly, and possibly most importantly, the small dot on the horizon. From this distance it was impossible to tell either it's general size or what it could possibly be. "It could be a castle a thousand miles away" Nero had muttered to himself, "or a mountain a hundred thousand miles away." and so he had run onwards, not wanting to rest just yet.

Nero ran at a slow jog, having covered the required miles for the day any distance covered now would simply be a bonus. And it was at this time, as he made his way eastwards, that he first felt the person's spiritual pressure, it was the pressure of a weaker person but it still bothered him. The full night sky was the perfect scene for a battle, the full moon shining it's rays down upon the barren planes of rock through which Nero made his way. To his left Nero caught a glimpse of something moving, but it was on the very periphery of his vision and when he turned to look there was nobody there. Nero came to a stop and scanned the area, seeking out the spiritual pressure of whoever had been following him but came up blank, he could feel the pressure yes, but when he focused and tried to pinpoint it's location it vanished completely. A thought struck Nero, that whoever it was he could sense was simply trying to distract him. He kept all senses keen, and as the spiritual pressure popped up again, this time directly in front of him, Nero drew his sword and, in one swift movement, jumped in the opposite direction. And was instantly intercepted by a figure in a black hooded robe, hood drawn up covering the face. A sword sliced at Nero's head, but he managed to duck beneath it just in time, losing a few hairs, his momentum caused him to fall to the ground, rolling three times before he came to a stop.

Nero instantly tried to jump to his feet, but he was not half way up before a foot buried itself in his gut, knocking him back down, and someone was standing over him, sword held aloft, business end pointing down at Nero's gut. But Nero slashed out and the figure was forced to jump back out of harms way, giving Nero the perfect opportunity to climb to his feet and pursue. The figure had no sooner landed than it jumped back into the fray. It sliced at Nero's head, but he raised his own blade to block. And was sent flying through the air at the power of the attack, rolling twice as he hit the ground, he came up in a crouch, barely ready to block the next strike, which came in the form of an upward arc aimed at Nero's genitals, Nero intercepted, this time putting his spare hand on the blunt edge of the sword to protect against the power of this guys attack, it worked, and instead of going flying again he was only raised off the ground a few feet, which gave Nero the perfect opportunity get to his feet. But he had barely done that when a fist collided with Nero's gut, knocking all the air out of him in a great whoosh, the pain doubling him over Nero tried to hack at the figures feet, but his strength was gone, and he could not defend himself against the knee that crashed into his chin, sending him flying upwards into the air, stretched out as far as his body would allow. His sword slipped from his grip, and Nero felt the bite of a sword as it pierced his left outer thigh and was dragged unceremoniously through and out of the inner thigh, cutting bone and sinew as it went, even drawing blood from his rite thigh as it cut a few inches with the force of the first blow. The scream that escaped Nero's lips as he hit the ground was one of primal agony, seeming to claw it's way out from the very depths of his soul. Liquid fire seeped from his leg in the form of blood, shards of glass replaced his bones and the agony that the two incurred was enough to make Nero weep. As he felt his conciousness slipping away, retreating from the pain, he realised that he could not feel his foot, and knew with utter certainty that this bastard had cut his leg off. And then he was in the world of dreams, and no longer able tell if his screams of torment were real or not.

Nero awoke to yet more blows. But this time it was not from a blade or fist but the sun, stabbing at his eyes with it's piercing glow "Kid's awake!" Nero heard someone yell. The voice was deep and rough, as if the speaker had once swallowed a dangerous amount of sandpaper. Nero almost subconsciously decided this guy's name would be Sandy. Looking around Nero realised he was in a cage with wooden bars to the left and rite of him, but the cage walls at the front and back were made of solid wood. On the floor was a generous amount of hay, apparently his bed for the night, coloured in places by dried blood. The cage seemed to be moving at a good clip, and the outside scenery raced past too quickly for Nero to make out any discerning characteristics. A head dangled downwards outside his cage, upside down and attached to a pair of shoulders (Nero noticed the shoulders with no small amount of relief.) The head had a red bandanna over it's hair, a bristly chin, and blue eyes, sunken into sockets rimmed with red, as if this man had wiped away tears with a generous helping of poison ivy. All in all this guy looked more than a little bit intimidating. "Thought you were dead, we did" the voice was of the man Nero had dubbed Sandy. Nero looked at this man and the events of the previous evening came rushing back to him, and the memories brought a guest with them, the pain in his leg flared to life again, not as bad as it had been, but still enough to make his head spin. Nero could not fight the urge to look down and almost gave in to tears at what he saw. His leg had indeed been cut off from the thigh downwards. Nero slumped back onto the hay. It was over. All over. How could he travel the ridiculous amount of miles he had left with one leg?

"Yea that's a nasty injury you got there" Nero ignored him

"You're lucky we got to ya when we did, that Arrancar was getting ready to 'ave you're ova leg" Sandy had an extremely cockney accent. It also seemed like a slightly empty voice, the voice of a person who was more than a little mentally defunct.

"What's an Arrancar?" Nero was only a little interested. He said it more to take his mind off his missing leg than anything else.

"It's........Beanie what's an Arrancar again?"

"It's what happens when a Menos becomes human...basically" It was a woman, her voice was light as silk, sounded like a beautiful orchestra playing a beautiful melody, and it tickled Nero's inner ear pleasantly. Nero had not even seen the girl yet but something told him that she was incredibly beautiful. He longed to see what she looked like. Her voice even suppressed the shock of what she had just told him, in fact it made it seem almost normal, as though she had just reminded him that you have to add milk _after_ the cereal, useful information that came with no more than a cursory amount of interest.

"Where are you taking me?" Nero hoped Beanie would answer him

"To see the boss. 'e's the one who sent us out to 'elp ya', e'll get ya' leg good as new"

"How can he? It's gone!"

"'e'll give ya' a new one look" Sandy lowered an arm down so that Nero could see it. "See?" he asked and Nero gasped at the arm. It was made entirely of metal, but it was not one chunk, it was thousands of tiny pieces built to resemble the exact structure of the inside of the arm. An amazing piece of machinery to say the least. "I could've 'ad fake skin ova' it if I wanted, but I thought it looked better like this" he pronounced the the th in though as an f. "E'll give ya a leg I knows e' will, we'll be there soon, so just you get some rest" Nero did. Though sleep was not within his capabilities he allowed his mind to wonder of all things Espada "What happened to the Espada that attacked me?" Sandy had pulled his head up already, and now he popped it back down. "I killed 'Im o'course" Sandy said it as though he were explaining something obvious. Nero knew instantly that these were not people to be trifled with.

It turned out Sandy was right. Ten minutes later and his cage was pulling into a city gate _"Shit they've brought me home!"_ were the only words that forced themselves to acknowledgment in Nero's mind "_ shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!!!!"_ not his most literate moment Nero would happily admit, but the fear he felt was so immense that his head felt as if it had been hit by a brick, so muddled were his thoughts. His mind ran in circles. Circles of words. Circles of the same words. Over and over and over and over. Nero tried to form a coherent sentence, but his thoughts were so muddled that all he could think of to say was "So I'm back in Soul Society" Sandy looked confused "What's "Soul Society"?" it was the girl called Beanie who answered "It's were all souls go after they die, it's about two thousand miles in that direction. Nero wished with all his heart that he could see in what direction she was pointing "So you've brought me a thousand miles" Nero struggled to voice the question that would ease or worsen his fears "In what direction?"

"North" the girl called Beanie answered with a nonchalantness that was the direct contrast of Nero's crushed spirit "YOU BROUGHT ME THE WRONG WAY!" neither of his captors gave any response to his outburst. He suddenly felt very much like a petulant child being ignored by disapproving parents. The town in which Nero now found himself was whipping by as fast as the outside world had done, he caught brief glimpses of faces, but then he was gone, and the faces a fading memory, but from the brief glimpses he did catch all people seemed to be curious. And.....expectant? Nero could not be sure of that last one but the word did protrude in his mind. Nero struggled to control the rage he felt flowing in his veins like lava, to chill his raging mind before he spoke his next words. He had to do it through gritted teeth to stop himself screaming "So what the hell is this place called?" Sandy's head reappeared, his childlike smile on his face again "This is Byakurai!"

"Byakurai?.....white lightning?"

"Yep!"

"And it's called that why?"

"Because it's the village Founders favourite Kido" this from Beanie

"Seems a strange reason to name a village"

"Yea, well you Shinigami are strange people"

"So you're not a Shinigami?"

"Do I look like one?"

"I wouldn't know I haven't seen you yet" no answer. Then....

"No I'm not a Shinigami" through all this Sandy had looked slightly confused

"What's a Shinigami?"

"It's a-" Nero began to explain but was interrupted by Beanie

"Don't bother telling him, he'll just forget. His brain can't hold information passed orally, he has to see something to be able to remember it"

"Oh"

"We're here."

Through his entire journey, thoughts focused on his missing appendage as they were, he did not notice his other missing limb. His sword.


End file.
